Fulvio Fantoni...in Action

Was it Sheer Luck or Good Play
- by T.C. Pant by T.C. Pant

Claudio Nunes & Fulvio Fantoni of Italy are currently one of the top pairs in World Bridge and like the famous Meckwell partnership, their partnership is also going from strength to strength.

The following hand played by Fantoni in the 3rd session of Quarter finals between the WEED team against SADEK in the recently held Summer NABC at Las Vegas is ample proof of his calibre on the bridge table.

Board 10, Dlr: East, Vul: Both

8 6 5 K 8 6 2 A K 7 3  6 3

J 10 7 2 J 10 7 3 Q 8 2 7 2

A Q 3 A Q 4 J 9 6 A K Q 9

K 9 4 9 5 10 5 4 J 10 8 5 4

OPEN ROOM:

 

West	North	East	South
Elahmady	Lauria	Sadek	Versace
		2NT	Pass
3NT	Pass	Pass	Pass

Versace (South) of Weed team led the 4, the only lead to give the contract on a platter. But the declarer (Tarek Sadek) did not utilize the greek gift.

After taking the first trick with the 9, he played the Q ducked by North. Now he tried the Q, which was ducked by South and now it would have been easy to score the 9 tricks, if declarer cashes club tricks and then plays Spade Ace and spade
back. South can get 2 tricks in black suits, but then will be forced to open the red suits giving the 9th trick to declarer.

However, Sadek played it differently. After winning the Q, he cashed the Ace & King of clubs and played a low diamond to dummy’s Queen and North’s Ace. The ever cunning master (Lauria) played back the 3 and now declarer was in trouble. He has to put the Jack for the 9th trick, but he took a wrong decision by playing the 9 and the contract went one down.

CLOSED ROOM:

 

West	North	East	South
Nunes	Levin	Fantoni	Weinstein
		2NT	Pass
3	Pass	3NT	Pass
Pass	Pass

There was a little variation in the bidding but the final contract was the same 3NT.

Unlike Sadek, Fantoni was not lucky enough to get a low club lead. Weinstein preferred the 10 and Fantoni won the trick with the King (trying to give a false impression that North might have the Queen).

Sadek after winning the first trick had played the Q, whereas Fantoni preferred the Q.

Was it a sheer luck that he played the spades before heart? No one except perhaps Fantoni will be able to answer this. But this play turned out to be the most crucial play in making the contract.

Weinstein ducked the trick and now like in the open room, Fantoni played the Q, which was ducked by Levin.

Please note, that if South wins the trick with K, the contract will be cold as declarer has the entry to dummy and can take heart finesse and will make 3 spades, 3 hearts, 3 clubs and may be even a possible diamond. Similarly, if North wins the heart
trick with King and returns a club, declarer now has a heart entry in dummy and can safely play Spade Ace and back to again get 3 tricks in major suits and 3 in Clubs to score the contract.

 

The best defense North has is to play a low diamond after winning the heart King. But again declarer is home, as he now gets 2 spades, 3 hearts, 1 diamond and 3 club tricks.

So with defense keeping Fantoni on his toes, he again went back to Spades, cashing the Ace and playing the 3rd spade. South was in problem. He correctly judged not playing the clubs (else the 9 would have won the trick) and could not play hearts
after declarer’s earlier heart play, so his tried the best shot, he played the 10. Now hoping to get an entry with either Queen or the all important 8 in dummy, declarer played the Q, carefully playing the 9 from hand, when North won the trick with
the King. Now it was North’s turn to be in soup. He can’t play the heart nor could play the diamond, knowing well that 8 will become an entry to dummy, which will allow the declarer to cash the 4th spade as well as take the all important heart
finesse, giving him 10 tricks instaed of nine.

So North returned the passive 3. Declarer won the trick with Ace and returned the J, North ducking the trick. But Fantoni was ready for the task. He correctly read the position and after acshing the Q, returned the last diamond to dummy’s eight
and to North’s Ace. North could cash the last diamond, but was then end-played in hearts. He returned a low heart and fantoni played low, winning in dummy and getting the all important 4th spade plus the Heart Ace for total 9 tricks.

The kibitzers as well as all the commentators watching on BBO praised the excellent effort of Fantoni.

However, the editor is still not able to find out the reason of Fantoni playing the spade queen before heart queen.

Going back to the 2nd trick, if Fantoni like Sadek would have played the Q, North could have just taken the trick and fired a low diamond back. The declarer can not do anything now. He can win a diamond trick but along with 3 tricks in Hearts as
well as 3 tricks in clubs, he still requires the spade finesse. Once the spade finesse is lost, declarer is one down, as he can fire back a diamond and North will cash his 3 diamond tricks along with the two tricks in major suit.

So was it really a sheer luck…. God knows.